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down feathers coming out of bag

So I got my Peapod and love it. I'm giving it a real test this weekend. I've noticed that a few feathers are slipping out of the shell. Is there any way to prevent this? Am I loosing a lot of insulation because of this?

You will have leakage with any down bag. All of my down products have a little bit of leakage. Normally it's not the down coming out of the quilt, it the feathers.

All down, even the highest quality, has feathers in the mix. You will see ratings on down like 90/10. That means 90% down, 10% feathers. The feather's stiff shaft will poke through the shell fabric. I just go ahead and pull it out if it's a feather. Sometimes you will get a single down cluster get through, but that's normally around needle holes. It shouldn't cause any loss in insulation value.

“Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it." -Terry Pratchett

I noticed some loose down when I first got my RMS. For the first day or so, everytime I'd 'fluff' it I'd see a few pieces of down flutter through the air. I haven't seen any since, so I guess it was just leftover from the manufacturing process.

Losing insulation? I would think that's like taking a grain of sand from a beach and being worried about erosion as a result; should be fine.

So I got my Peapod and love it. I'm giving it a real test this weekend.

Excellent! Have you attached it and jumped in yet? How is your fit, room wise? Also, don't you have a 4 foot wide hammock? I am looking forward to see how much that improves ( if at all ) how the hammock fits on top, how much it decreases the air gap.

yours is a 50-55* model, right? Just remember, with the 20* model, it is only rated to 20* on BOTTOM, because of the air gap, which reduces the top rating ( on the TWENTY degree model) to 50* on top. Though I find that top rating even MORE conservative than the bottom rating. The question is: what will the top rating be on the 50* model, which I assume is also rated at 50* BOTTOM only?

But the good news is that adding even the thinnest top blanket/quilt/bag (or even warm clothing) quickly increases the top rating to much warmer than either the PeaPod or top quilt alone. Or really, it SEEMS to me, warmer than would be expected from the combination.

Just don't forget to leave enough gap between the unoccupied hammock and the PeaPod's down to avoid compression of the down. While at the same time not so much as to leave a significant gap once you are inside. Probably a minimum of at least 6", but this may vary with the hammock used, how new it is and how much it stretches, the weight of the user, etc. Personaly, I need a good bit more than 6". You MUST avoid compressing that down or it's guaranteed you will feel cold. But with as little gap as possible.

Experimentation will show you how much extra sag is right for you.

If it is below 50*, add a space blanket and/or clothing and/or pads beneath you, readjusting pod sag as needed. If you use a space blanket, be sure and keep the space blanket on top of all insulation, next to the hammock, so you don't get any condensation in the insulation. And remember, the more you close that pod up, the more you will see large increases in its warmth. Though you may, or may not, want to close it all the way if it is really cold. Theoretically, you would not want to do this, because of trapped moisture inside the pod. But for some reason, most PeaPod users seem to report getting away with this, at least for occasional use. Or as long as you can dry it in the sun, if needed.

I got in it for a while in my front yard and felt snug as a bug. I plan to eventually use a liner to add around 10 degrees but for this weekend I'll probably just use the peapod with a little bit of extra insulation (clothing). The low will be 52. The hammock is 4ft wide. I'm pretty slim and I really like how well the pod wraps around me without being to constricting. It was super easy to set up. I had read your review and made sure to keep an eye on the sag and space between the pod and hammock. Its hard to tell how much actual space I have but I would basically feel underneath me and make sure nothing was being compressed. It sure is easy to adjust though! What a great product (time will really tell) from initial perspective! I'll write up my thoughts after using it for the night later. I feel very confident in my purchase though. Enough to wear I wish he made more rated at the 50 degree mark so I could get one for my wife.

I was taught not to pull leaking feathers out through the shell- instead try to pull the offending feather(s) or down cluster back into the down chamber. Gather the material loosely in one hand and sort of pluck the feather back into the bag. I guess the idea is to not make the hole in the shell any bigger.